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Matt Murdock
Matthew "Matt" Murdock is a Human man who was blinded as a young boy, but was gifted with extraordinary senses. After his father was murdered by mobsters, Murdock dedicated his life to fight injustice in New York City as a lawyer by day with his law firm Nelson and Murdock, and by night as a vigilante known as Daredevil. His actions as a crime fighter put Murdock into conflict with a crime lord named Wilson Fisk. Murdock used his skills to expose Fisk's criminal activities and have him taken to prison. Daredevil's actions in New York City and his strict moral code soon put him into conflict with the Punisher, a vigilante who believed that death was the only punishment for crime. Daredevil was thrown into more turmoil by the return of his old lover Elektra and his former mentor Stick, who attempted to recruit him into their war with the Hand. Murdock eventually managed to find a middle ground with the Punisher while also defeating the Hand's member Nobu Yoshioka, although then losing Elektra in the process and watching Nelson and Murdock fall apart as Foggy Nelson still struggled to cope with his friend's double life. However, with the Hand resurrecting Elektra and threatening the city again, Murdock joined fellow vigilantes, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones to destroy the Hand. After staying behind while the Hand's headquarters collapsed, he woke up under the care of nuns. Following the demise of Elektra and his Law Firm falling apart, Murdock then retired from his vigilante activities as Daredevil and attempted to live a normal life as a lawyer, while telling Karen Page his own true secret identity in the hope of repairing their relationship. However, once the Hand began their attack on New York City and successfully managed to resurrect Elektra, Murdock began investigating, becoming the lawyer of Jessica Jones in order to find out whatever she knew. Murdock and Jones had then joined forces with Luke Cage and Iron Fist to destroy the Hand, while Murdock also reclaimed his Daredevil identity. However the conflict with the Hand claimed the life of Stick and, in a final effort to redeem Elektra, Daredevil had stayed behind with her while the Midland Circle collapsed around them. Murdock managed to survive the building collapse and was taken to the care of Paul Lantom and Maggie Grace, although his body was broken and his mind disillusioned as he vowed to never be Daredevil again. During his recuperation at Saint Agnes Orphanage, Murdock had learned of Wilson Fisk being released early from prison and once again made it his mission to defeat him. This time, Murdock turned away his friends and family and also made his time as a vigilante his one and only priority, putting his life as Matt Murdock behind him. Although Fisk had thought of many of the contingencies to his plans, blackmailing Ray Nadeem and using Benjamin Poindexter to impersonate and frame the Daredevil, Murdock eventually managed to gain the upper hand over Fisk and defeated him, blackmailing Fisk with his threats to Vanessa Marianna if Fisk revealed Murdock's true identity or targeted his friends. Personality Matt Murdock, for lack of a better term, is complicated. As a child, he felt immense guilt and loss: blaming himself for the death of his father as well as feeling lost after losing his sight. He was both heroic and selfless even as a child, as was shown best when he saved an elderly man from being hit by a shuttle, at the cost of his own vision. Murdock has "daddy issues" with both his actual father Jack Murdock and his subsequent father figure Stick, having lost both either to death or from being abandoned. Stick tried to raise him to be coldblooded but suddenly abandoned him when Matt started expressing filial affection; this abandonment and rejection has left Murdock with difficulty forging real emotional connections, despite his determination to not let Stick define him. Murdock has a high desire for justice and doing the right thing. He convinced his friend Foggy Nelson to quit their internship at Landman and Zack to start their own firm which would work for the common man. During the start of their firm, he aimed to help only innocent people. Unable to allow injustice, he got frustrated when the police or judicial system failed to help. He decided to work as a vigilante to save people and help where the justice system could not. During this, he demonstrated extreme selflessness as he kept risking his life for others, even after he barely made it out of dangerous situations and ended up badly wounded multiple times. While fighting crime, he can be very brutal and heavily injures criminals in such manner as breaking their bones. He has hospitalized multiple criminals in this regard, with the first man he beat up having to eat through a straw for a month. However, he has avoided intentionally killing anyone so far and limits himself to hand to hand combat and sticks so as to not inflict lethal injuries, even if this results in himself getting injured during fights. When the Steel Serpent warehouse started burning, he used a gun to try and scare everyone into leaving and ordered a downed guard to evacuate them, showing great concern for even his enemies, as both the guards and the workers there had attacked him. He usually attempts to avoid killing people, and has yet to kill anyone so far, as he believes he's on thin ice as it is and that doing so will make him no better than the people he's fighting. His refusal to kill earns him heavy criticism from Frank Castle, who kills criminals without hesitation or remorse and considers Matt a coward who can't finish the job. Despite his reluctance to kill, Matt has, on occasion, when sufficiently infuriated or when the situation is dire, thrown away his concern for the well-being of his opponents, such as when he used a kitchen knife when Semyon came for him, tortured him with it and even threw him off of a rooftop, though he knew he would live because of the dumpster positioned under where Semyon fell. The harming or killing of innocent people, such as Elena Cardenas, makes him even more willing to kill, as he told Elena's killer that he would not stop beating him if he did not go to the SCIS. Later on, his fight with Nobu Yoshioka resulted in the latter's accidental immolation and apparent death, though he was angry when he learned that Wilson Fisk actually wanted Nobu to die and did not lift a finger to save him when he had the chance. When the resurrected Yoshioka ended up killing Elektra, his resulting ferocity made him able to easily beat Yoshioka and knock him off a building with a wire from his Billy Club, seemingly not caring if Nobu came back to life or not. He has also threatened to kill Wilson Fisk, and has acknowledged that he meant it at the time, while he also did slash Fisk with one of Yoshioka's discarded blades, only to find that his suit was concealing body armor. So far he has been lucky that during these lapses in his sense of morality he has failed to follow through on his intent, however even his temporary willingness to kill still feeds his sense of guilt when he reflects on it. His most complex relationship is arguably is the one with Elektra. When Elektra first reentered his life, Matt was not best pleased to see her, as the two had parted on less than favorable terms. Before long, he began to consider her a nuisance, due to her constantly involving him in her battles with the Hand, when he already had his hands full dealing with the Frank Castle case. At one point, he had to tell her that his life didn't stop every time she called him. Overtime, however, he got more and more involved in her struggle, and his relationships with Karen and Foggy became more distant as a result. Eventually, he came to realize that he actually loves Elektra and that she makes him more alive than anything else. Eventually these feeling would lead Matt to re-enter the collapsing Midland Circle caves in a attempt to rescue her but ultimately was unable to do so and was nearly killed as a result of being crushed under the rubble. As a Catholic, Murdock experiences a lot of guilt and soul-searching over his actions when he allows his anger and contempt for violent criminals to cause him to enjoy beating them bloody, and he frequently wonders whether he is doing the right thing in the eyes of God or whether he is allowing evil into his heart. When he feels this way, he approaches his local priest, Father Lantom, for spiritual guidance and advice, however, he asks his questions in a roundabout way to conceal his identity as Daredevil, though Lantom has managed to figure out the truth. Either way, Lantom is bound by the seal of confession not to divulge what they discuss. After Murdock met his mentor Stick again, he started to doubt his ways and even considered killing Wilson Fisk as he doubted he could stop him any other way. This created an internal struggle as his best friend and others did not want him to act as a vigilante. In the final confrontation against Fisk, he kept true to his vow and ultimately did not kill Fisk. Powers and abilities Powers Enhanced senses: Despite being blinded as a child, Murdock's remaining four senses, besides sight, are enhanced to a superhuman level, resulting in them becoming radar/sonar-like. He claims to constantly feel numerous things, including balance, direction, minuscule changes in air density, vibrations, and blankets of temperature variations, that are usually imperceptible to human beings. That, combined with his acute hearing and olfactory senses, allows Murdock to evaluate his surroundings in what he describes as an "Impressionistic painting" of the world around him, which, according to him, looks like "the world on fire". His superhumanly enhanced senses grants him tremendous awareness of his surroundings on a wide range, this makes him extremely alert to danger. *'Enhanced hearing': Like a bat, Murdock's hearing is extremely acute, he can clearly hear conversations, heartbeats and even breaths from several meters. He was able to hear and memorize the sound of James Wesley's watch ticking, and hear Claire's bones shifting as she breathed. Murdock can focus on what he hears; in a crowded courtroom with the judge speaking, Murdock heard a juror's heartbeat accelerate when James Wesley entered the room. Hearing the changes in people's heartbeats allows Murdock to predict how they feel and what actions they'll take, such as attack or run. He was also able to memorize the pattern of Wesley's watch so he could follow the latter. When forced to improvise while fighting extremely stealthy Hand ninjas, Murdock was able to effectively keep track of their movements by listening to their breaths and the sound of their swords cutting through the air. **'Echolocation': Matt possesses an exceptionally advanced form of human echolocation. He is able to detect objects in his environment by sensing echoes from those objects, by actively creating and listening for sounds - for example tapping his cane, stomping of his enemies' feet, raindrops, ticking from a watch, tumbling of a safe's locks, rattling chains or even a person's heartbeat. He can interpret the sound waves reflected by nearby objects, accurately identifying their location and size. **'Lie detection': Murdock's hearing is so acute, that he can tell whether people are lying or not, based on the rate of their heartbeats. *'Enhanced smell': His incredible olfactory senses which is even sharper than a dog allow him to detect the scent of stale cigarettes and cheap cologne three floors above him and through several walls. When he was a boy, his sense was already so acute, he could smell that an old man sitting at a bench across from him had cancer. By smelling an old cigarette, Murdock could tell that whoever smoked it previously had rotten teeth. He was even able to smell that Foggy Nelson had onions in his lunch, the current time, but two days ago. *'Enhanced taste': Murdock was able to tell that Claire Temple had ripped open some of the stitches on her back, due to tasting copper in the air from the blood of her open wound. Stick taught him how to train this sense, which allowed him to pick out every individual ingredient of the ice cream he was eating, including that the milk used came from three different dairy farms, and that the man who served him used a certain type of soil in his garden. *'Enhanced touch': Murdock can feel the presence of those around him through vibrations, air currents and body temperatures. He can dodge attacks and projectiles by feeling them cut through the air, creating ripples of currents only detectable by him. He locates enemies through walls and from different floors by feeling the vibrations they make from moving, such as their footsteps. **'Enhanced thermoreception': Matt can sense changes in heat in the environment. Murdock could even feel the heat generated from the blood spilling from the gunshot wound on Vladimir Ranskahov; to one-half of a degree, he was able to distinguish the difference in temperature. **'Electroreception': Matt is able to detect electric fields, similar to a shark. When out on a mission with Elektra, Matt was able to find a hidden room by feeling an electrical current coming from behind the wall. He could hear the electricity buzzing inside the wall and felt a stop in the current were the mechanism for unlocking the secret room was. *'Enhanced balance': Murdock's sense of balance is superhuman, giving him perfect equilibrium, coordination, dexterity, reflexes, and agility, resulting in high levels of acrobatic and gymnastic ability. His dexterity and reflexes were enhanced even before his training with Stick, as he could effortlessly catch keys thrown to him while hearing the sound they made. He can instinctively react to oncoming blows nearly effortlessly with the use of his other senses, such as avoiding attacks with a sharp weapon at close quarters by hearing the noise of its approach. Abilities *'Master martial artist': Despite being blind, Murdock was rigorously trained in martial arts by Stick at a young age, and excelled in it. He continued training himself, despite Stick giving up on him, becoming an exceptionally fit man who is extremely skilled in martial arts. Murdock eventually used his skills to fight crime as the vigilante "Daredevil". Daredevil's fighting style incorporates Boxing, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Judo, Aikido, Capoeira, Taekwondo, Escrima, Ninjutsu, and Pro-Wrestling. Hence, Daredevil could take down the criminals of Hell's Kitchen with ease, defeating professional hitman Rance, highly skilled assassin John Healy, single-handedly taking down eight Russian gangsters at once (despite having not yet full recovered from his wounds at the time), and was even able to take down multiple SCIS officers while handcuffed. His ex-girlfriend Elektra claimed that Murdock was one of the best fighters that she knew. By the time he met Stick again, Murdock rivaled his former mentor in skill, managing to keep up with him in an intense one-on-one duel and ultimately overpowering him, earning Stick's praise. Though with some difficulty, Murdock was also ultimately able to overpower Kingpin, a man of immense brute strength, and even flip him through the air during their fight. However, Daredevil would still have problems facing opponents with more combat skill and experience, such as the Hand leader Nobu Yoshioka, though even the latter acknowledged Daredevil as a worthy opponent. Despite his beating at Nobu's hands, he still managed to fight him on near equal grounds and ended the fight by knocking him several feet and accidentally igniting the fuel at his feet, which immolated Nobu. A year later, Daredevil's combat skills seem to have improved, as he was now able to hold his own against the fierce and extremely dangerous Punisher (even gaining the upper hand against him a few times), to single-handedly take down multiple highly skilled Hand ninjas, to last longer than Elektra against a resurrected Nobu Yoshioka in their final duel, and even to finally defeat the extremely skilled Hand leader himself, albeit only with considerable effort and initial failure. At times, his attacks have allowed him to knock opponents off the ground a few feet, which he did while battling the Dogs of Hell (kicking a man on a staircase into the air), as well as the Hand (flipping over a man and throwing him several feet into a pile of crates). His skill also allowed him to fight evenly against Danny Rand, a master martial artist in his own right. *'Master acrobat': Having top notch agility, dexterity and reflexes, Murdock is capable of incorporating gymnastics and acrobatics into his fighting style as he battles opponents, and could already do several agile flips as a child. He is highly skilled with parkour and free-running and able to quickly move over rooftops and climb buildings, managing to keep up with a shuttle this way. Even when handcuffed, Daredevil performed an agile back flip, bringing his hands back in front of his torso. He also utilized his superior agility to successfully gain the upper hand against Stick. However, Daredevil is notably not quite as agile as Nobu Yoshioka, though a year after their first encounter, his agility seems to have improved, with Daredevil's now rivaling that of the resurrected Yoshioka. His agility also allowed him to gain the upper hand on Punisher during their fight. He was even able to use his great agility to dodge bullets even at close range. *'Expert marksman': Because of his enhanced senses, Murdock has an increased awareness of where objects are, allowing him exceptional marksmanship with both firearms and throwing weapons, with him able to quickly knock guns out of the Punisher's grasp with a hurled Billy club. Also, he was able to drop a fire extinguisher on Semyon's head several floors down, timing it perfectly and knowing when Semyon would be off the stairs and directly below it. *'Staff mastery': Thanks to his early training with Stick, Murdock is highly skilled in the use of staves and similar melee weapons. The billy club that Melvin Potter created for him maximizes this skill by being able to easily change between different combinations of weapons. *'Bilingualism': Murdock speaks fluent English, French and Spanish, having studied the latter at college. However, he cannot speak or understand Russian or Japanese. *'Master lawyer': Murdock is a persuasive and trained lawyer, having graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University. Foggy Nelson claimed that had Murdock been able to put more effort into the case of Frank Castle, that they might have won it. When threatening Wilson Fisk, Murdock expressed confidence in his ability to use "every legal loophole and footnote" to keep Fisk and Vanessa Marianna from ever being able to reunite, claiming to have the ability to break him without breaking any law. Equipment *'Armored suit': In their first fight, after being severely injured by Nobu Yoshioka, Murdock noticed Wilson Fisk's impermeable armored suit and decided to take Claire Temple's advice to get some body armor of his own. He located Melvin Potter, who made Fisk's suit, and persuaded him to make a red and black suit with a facemask and helmet resembling the Christian Devil, leading to his new name. This suit is highly durable, allowing him to be nearly unfazed by an opponent's attacks and recover more quickly from being hit, such as being hit in the head with a metal pipe or slammed into a wall by Fisk. It notably allowed Daredevil to survive unscathed from battling a resurrected Yoshioka with the same shoge hook that badly wounded him when he wore his more simple vigilante suit. After his first protective helmet got cracked by a close-range bullet from the Punisher, Daredevil had Potter make him a new, more durable one. The suit's durability is fully displayed at the end of The Defenders when it is revealed that Matt actually survived the cave in, presumably due to the suits's armor *'Billy club': When Murdock asked Melvin Potter to create an armored suit for him, Potter also created a special Billy club. It can be used as a short staff, or two individual sticks joined by a high tensile wire for grappling. It can also be split into two individual short sticks for close quarters combat. It is kept in a holster on the suit's left thigh. Former equipment *'Vigilante suit': Murdock bought a black suit with red stitching online to wear in his vigilante activities. He also wore a black mask over his head, eyes and nose, leaving only his mouth uncovered. This suit also had padding which he wore underneath the suit, so that the beatings would not hurt as much, but they did not stop him from being seriously injured. He would ultimately discard this suit in favor of a much more durable armored one. *'Wooden sticks': At a young age, Murdock was trained to be an expert stick fighter by Stick, but he stopped using the weapons after Stick left, preferring to fight unarmed. He began using them again at Stick's insistence when his mentor returned to New York City. However, he discarded them after Melvin Potter made him a more advanced Billy club. Category:Humans Category:Lawyers Category:Vigilantes